On January 11, 2002, Hamilton Bank, N.A., Miami, FL was closed by Office
of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (FDIC) was named Receiver. No advance notice is given to the
public when a financial institution is closed.
The FDIC has assembled useful information regarding your relationship with
this institution. Besides a checking account, you may have Certificates of
Deposit, a car loan, a business checking account, a commercial loan, a Social
Security direct deposit, and other relationships with the institution. The
FDIC has compiled the following information which should answer many of your
questions.

The FDIC has issued a press
release about the institutions closure. If you represent
a media outlet and would like information about the closure, please
contact the FDIC Public Affairs Office at (202) 898-6993.

All insured deposit accounts at the following branches have been
transferred to Israel Discount Bank of New York, New York, N Y ("assuming
institution") and will be available as usual during regular business hours:

The Weston, Airport, Sarasota, Winter Haven, Tampa, and Puerto Rico
branches will not be re-opening . FDIC was unable to find a purchaser
for the non-transactional (Certificate of Deposit or Individual
Retirement Account) account holders in these six branches. Checks will
be mailed for the insured portion of these account(s) to the last
address shown on the records of the failed institution.

Safe Deposit Boxes at Main (Doral), Brickell (Downtown) and West Palm
Beach branches will be open as usual during regular business hours and
will remain available to bank customers.

If you have a safe deposit box at the Weston, Airport, Sarasota, Winter
Haven, Tampa, and Puerto Rico Hamilton Bank branches, please contact
FDIC Customer Service at 877-367-2717 to make an appointment to arrange
access to the boxes.

Principal and interest on insured accounts, through January 11, 2002,
are fully insured by the FDIC, up to the insurance limit of $100,000.
You will receive full payment for your insured account. Certain
entitlements and different types of accounts may be insured for more
than the $100,000 limit. IRA funds are insured separately from other
types of accounts, up to a $100,000 limit.

If it is determined that you have uninsured funds, the FDIC will
generate and mail to you a Receiver Certificate. This certificate
entitles you to share proportionately in any funds recovered through the
disposal of the assets of Hamilton Bank. This means that you may
eventually recover some of your uninsured funds.

All accounts that exceed the $100,000 insurance limit, and/or all
accounts that appear to be related and exceed this limit, are reviewed
by the FDIC to determine their ownership and insurance coverage. If it
appears that you have potentially uninsured funds, an FDIC Claims Agent
will contact you, by either telephone or mail, regarding your account(s).

If you believe you have uninsured funds, you may make an appointment to
meet with a Claims Agent by calling 877-367-2717.

Your transferred deposits will be separately insured from any accounts
you may already have at Israel Discount Bank of New York for six months
after the failure of Hamilton Bank. Checks that were drawn on Hamilton
Bank that did not clear before the institution closed will be honored,
so long as there are sufficient insured funds available in the account. If you have questions about your account(s) transferred to the assuming bank,
you may speak to an FDIC representative regarding deposit insurance by
calling 877-367-2717.

You may withdraw your funds from any transferred account without an
early withdrawal penalty until you enter into a new deposit agreement
with Israel Discount Bank of New York (provided the deposits are not
pledged as collateral for loans).

On January 11, 2002 (the "Closing Date"), the Office of Comptroller of
the Currency closed Hamilton Bank, N.A., Miami, Florida (the "Failed
Institution") and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as
Receiver (the "Receiver"). The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, in its
capacity as the Receiver, is liquidating the Failed Institution and the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, in its capacity as the insurer of
deposits ("FDIC"), is paying deposit insurance to depositors for certain
account(s) held at the Failed Institution. The FDIC protects depositors up to
$100,000 and is providing the funds to pay your insured deposits.

If you receive a deposit insurance check that represents a distribution from
an Individual Retirement Arrangement ("IRA"), you should consult IRS
Publication 590 and/or your tax advisor concerning the possible tax
consequences of such distribution. The following information does not
constitute tax advice and, if you have any questions concerning the possible
tax consequences of such distribution, you should contact the IRS. IRS
Publication 590 may be obtained and the IRS may be contacted at your local IRS
office or via the Internet at www.irs.gov.

Generally, a distribution from a traditional IRA can be rolled over tax-free
into another traditional IRA for a limited period of time (usually 60 days)
following the date the distribution is received. Amounts not rolled over
within the 60-day period will generally be treated as a taxable distribution
subject to income tax and may be subject to a 10% penalty.

Please also note that, generally, you can receive a distribution from a
traditional IRA and make a rollover contribution (of all or part of the amount
received) to another traditional IRA only once in any one-year period. To the
extent that such waiting period might otherwise apply to you and result in a
taxable distribution because you have made a tax-free rollover within the past
year, you should know that an exception to the one-year waiting period rule
has been granted by the IRS for distributions made from a failed financial
institution by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

The FDIC will be providing all IRS reporting requirements (1098 for interest
paid, 1099 for interest earned and IRA-related forms) for Hamilton Bank for
the tax year of 2001. It will be mailed to your address of record at the bank.

Again, should you have any tax-related questions, please contact the IRS or
your tax advisor.

You may continue to use the services to which you previously had
access, such as automatic teller machines (ATMs), night deposit boxes,
wire services, etc. at the Doral, Brickell, and West Palm Beach
branches only.

Your checks will be processed as usual. All outstanding checks will be
paid against your available insured balance(s) as if no change had
occurred. Israel Discount Bank of New York will contact you soon
regarding any changes in the terms of your account. If you have a
problem with a merchant refusing to accept your check, please contact
FDIC Customer Service at 877-367-2717. An account representative will
clear up any confusion about the validity of your checks.

After January 11, 2002, any transferred accounts will earn interest at
a rate determined by Israel Discount Bank of New York. You will be
notified by letter regarding this matter.

Your automatic direct deposit(s) and/or automatic withdrawal(s) should
be transferred automatically to your assuming institution. You should
contact your assuming institution, however, to discuss your account(s)
and to insure that service is not delayed or discontinued.

All your deposit account histories and records will be transferred to
your assuming institution. If your assuming institution requires any
additional signatures or forms, it will notify you. If you have any
questions or special requests, you may contact FDIC Customer Service
at 877-367-2717.

The FDIC will be providing all IRS reporting requirements (1098 for
interest paid, 1099 for interest earned and IRA-related forms) for
Hamilton Bank for the tax year of 2001. It will be mailed to your
address of record at the bank.

Any inquiries from foreign governments may be directed to James
Gallagher at 202-898-7225 or via e-mail to
jgallagher@fdic.gov.

If you had a loan with Hamilton Bank, you should continue to make your
payments as usual. The terms of your loan will not change under the terms of
the loan contract because they are contractually agreed to your promissory
note with the failed institution.

The FDIC will notify you by letter if payments need to be forwarded to a
different mailing address.

Outstanding letters of credit, bankers acceptances, or other obligation made
by Hamilton Bank will be analyzed on a case by case basis. For further
information please contact your loan officer at the former Hamilton Bank or
Allen Ewing & Company at 305-717-5500.

The FDIC will be providing all IRS reporting requirements (1098 for interest
paid, 1099 for interest earned and IRA-related forms) for Hamilton Bank for
the tax year of 2001. It will be mailed to your address of record at the bank.

Claims against failed financial institutions
occur when bills sent to the institution remain unpaid at the time of failure. Shortly
after the failure, the FDIC sends notices directly to all known service providers to
explain the claim filing process.

Please note: there are time limits for
filing a claim, as specified in the notice.

If you provided a service for Hamilton Bank and have not received a
notice, please contact:

The FDIC offers a reference
guide to deposit brokers acting as agents for their investor clientele.
This site outlines the FDIC's policies and procedures that must
be followed by deposit brokers when filing for pass-through insurance
coverage on custodial accounts deposited in a failed FDIC Insured
Institution.